An independent reference for the people who live accreditation — the 12 standards and 83 elements, the toolkit of official documents, role-based guides, a living tracker of secretariat calls and events, and Elsie, a Q&A assistant that answers from the standards themselves.
Currently referencing Functions and Structure of a Medical School, March 2026 edition — for surveys in the 2027–28 academic year, standards and elements effective July 1, 2027. This is an unofficial reference; the authoritative source is always lcme.org.
What you can do here
Ask plain-language questions and get answers grounded in the published standards text, with element citations. She drafts and critiques DCI narratives, spots evidence gaps, generates likely site-visitor questions, and runs mock Q&A. Attach documents — they're read in your browser.
Ask a question →All 12 standards and 83 elements, browsable and searchable — the March 2026 edition, with numbering gaps from the 2027–28 revisions noted where they occur. Type in the search and hand any topic straight to Elsie.
Open the reference →The official documents, one click away: Functions and Structure, the DCI, ISA and self-study guides, the glossary, the change log, and webinar slides and recordings. Links verified monthly.
Open the toolkit →The LCME, explained plainly — what it is, how a survey works, which standards your role owns, which committees the LCME actually requires, the policies your DCI needs. Eighteen role guides, from Dean to coordinator.
Start the crash course →Secretariat calls, webinars, town halls, meetings, and conferences — upcoming dates and recent developments in one dated list, refreshed as new items are announced. Every item links to its source.
See what's coming →The twelve questions everyone asks about LCME accreditation — answered plainly, without the jargon. The fastest way to get oriented if you're new to this work.
Read the FAQs →See what she can do
Tap any question — it opens Elsie with the question already asked, answered from the standards text with citations.
Who it's for
Deans and senior leaders get the national picture fast — thresholds, trends, and what the survey team will actually probe — without wading through the full DCI.
Directors and faculty leads get working tools: DCI drafting and critique, evidence-gap spotting, mock site-visitor Q&A, and Elsie on call at midnight before the visit.
Everyone else gets plain-language explainers, role guides that say what you own, and FAQs that answer the questions you're afraid to ask in the meeting.
Why it exists
Accreditation work runs on documents scattered across lcme.org PDFs, webinar slide decks, and DCI versions. This hub puts the working parts in one place: the current standards text, the calendar of what's next, and an assistant that reads the documents so you don't have to re-read them at midnight before a survey visit. It is independent and unofficial — written from the perspective of people who do this work, not affiliated with the LCME, AAMC, or AMA.